U.S. patent application number 10/060676 was filed with the patent office on 2002-11-07 for method and arrangement for facilitating the sharing of content items.
Invention is credited to Brand, Reon Johannes, McGinley, Maurice Joseph.
Application Number | 20020165793 10/060676 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 8179837 |
Filed Date | 2002-11-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020165793 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Brand, Reon Johannes ; et
al. |
November 7, 2002 |
Method and arrangement for facilitating the sharing of content
items
Abstract
An arrangement (100) and a method are disclosed for sharing a
content item (101), such as a music title, with a second user. A
first user (110) grabs a piece of music from the title and sends
said piece of music to a friend (130). The user device (110) adds a
content identifier and a user identifier identifying the sender to
the transmitted piece of music. The recipient reproduces the piece
of music (102). If he or she subsequently decides to buy the
complete title, the sender will obtain an award from the content
owner (130) for promoting the title. This electronic version of
"mouth-to-mouth" marketing encourages people to spread music clips
and may persuade friends to purchase content items.
Inventors: |
Brand, Reon Johannes;
(Eindhoven, NL) ; McGinley, Maurice Joseph;
(Calgary, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Corporate Patent Counsel
U.S. Philips Corporation
580 White Plains Road
Tarrytown
NY
10591
US
|
Family ID: |
8179837 |
Appl. No.: |
10/060676 |
Filed: |
January 30, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/26.1 ;
709/217 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0601 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/26 ;
709/217 |
International
Class: |
G06F 017/60 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 1, 2001 |
EP |
01200357.0 |
Claims
claims:
1. A system for sharing a content item, comprising a first user
device, a facilitating device and a second user device, the first
user device comprising means for generating a representation of
said content item, said representation being provided with a
content identifier, means for adding a user identifier identifying
the first user to the representation, the second user device
comprising means for receiving the representation including the
content identifier and user identifier from the first user device,
and means for transmitting the content identifier and user
identifier to the facilitating device, the facilitating device
comprising payment means for submitting a payment to the first user
in response to reception of the identifiers from the second user
device.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second user device
comprises means for ordering the content item identified by the
content identifier from the facilitating device.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first user device
further comprises means for selecting a sequence from the content
item, the sequence constituting said representation of the content
item.
4. A first user device for use in the system of claim 1, comprising
means for generating a representation of a content item, said
representation being provided with a content identifier, means for
adding a user identifier identifying the user to the
representation, means for transmitting the representation including
the content identifier and user identifier to a second user
device.
5. A second user device for use in the system of claim 1,
comprising means for receiving a representation of a content item
from a first user device, the representation including a content
identifier and a user identifier identifying the first user, means
for transmitting the content identifier and user identifier to a
facilitating device.
6. A facilitating device for use in the system of claim 1,
comprising means for receiving a content identifier and a user
identifier from a second user device, means for delivering the
content item identified by the content identifier to the second
user, and means for submitting a payment to a first user identified
by said user identifier.
7. A method of facilitating the sharing of a content item,
comprising the steps of receiving a content identifier and a user
identifier from a second user device, delivering the content item
identified by the content identifier to the second user, and
submitting a payment to a first user identified by said user
identifier.
8. A computer program product adapted to cause a computer to
execute the method of claim 7.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to a method and a system for sharing a
content item. The invention also relates to a first user device, a
second user device and a facilitating device for use in such a
system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] While watching a movie or listening to a music title, a
person may often wish that a friend or acquaintance would share the
same content item. In the exponentially growing world of broadcast
audiovisual content, this chance becomes smaller and smaller. Once
a content item is being broadcast, it is too late to start a
recording which can be sent to the other person. It is very
time-consuming and tedious for a person to obtain a copy on tape
from the broadcasting organization, and very costly and
labor-intensive for the broadcasting organization itself.
[0003] Even when a person does have a recording of the content
item, it is not easy for him to quickly present it to another
person. He would have to make a selection of representative moments
in the playback of the content item, which is not easy with most
consumer equipment. Moreover, copyright law puts restrictions on
what one person may share from a content item with other
persons.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] It is an object of the invention to provide an arrangement
for facilitating the sharing of a content item, which is easy to
use.
[0005] This object is achieved according to the invention in an
arrangement as defined in claim 1. A first user selects a content
item which he wants to share with another user. He generates a
representation of the content item, for example, by selecting a 20
second sequence from a music track. The representation includes a
content identifier identifying the item. This identifier may be
inherently present, for example, by means of a watermark embedded
by the content originator, or it may be added to the content by the
user's device in the form of metadata or a watermark. In the same
manner, a user identifier is added to the representation. The
representation including the content identifier and user identifier
is then sent to another user, for example, a friend or
acquaintance, who is believed to be interested in the same content.
In response to reception of the representation, the other user may
buy the full content item. To this end, his device transmits the
content identifier and user identifier to a facilitating device.
The facilitator then delivers the content item as identified by the
content identifier. Obviously, he will charge the second user for
said delivery. In turn for promoting the content, the facilitator
submits an award to the first user, who is identified by the user
identifier. It is achieved w the invention that the spread of
content, for example, music clips, is encouraged.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from
and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiments shown in
the drawing, in which:
[0007] FIG. 1 schematically shows an arrangement comprising a first
user device, a facilitating device and a second user device
according to the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0008] FIG. 1 schematically shows an arrangement 100 for
facilitating the sharing of a content item 101. The arrangement 100
comprises a first user device 110, a facilitating device 120 and a
second user device 130. Some of the features indicated in the
drawings are typically implemented in software, and as such
represent software entities, such as software modules or
objects.
[0009] In this embodiment, the first user device 110 is a digital
music player. The content item is a music title. It will be
appreciated that the device may also be a television receiver for
reproducing television programs or a DVD video player. The device
comprises a representation-generating module 111, a transmitting
module 112, a payment module 113, and a local storage 114. The
music player can play content items such as CD tracks or MP3 files.
The content items may be loaded from local storage 114 or received
from external sources such as Internet or radio broadcasts. The
device 110 may also be arranged for recording content received from
external sources on the memory 114 for later playback. The user
device may even comprise a microphone for picking up a live
concert. The user uses a remote control 115 or other input device
to control the operation of the first user device 110.
[0010] Since there is a huge amount of content items available in
practice, and this amount will only increase in the near future,
the first user device 110 may need to employ some filtering
mechanism to allow the user to view only those content items he
likes. This filtering mechanism could, for instance, automatically
record any content item that fits a user profile for the user, so
that the user can play back these content items at the time and in
the order he desires. This means that a number of recorded content
items can be present in the memoryll4.
[0011] When the user, through filtering, flipping channels,
browsing the memory 114 or some other means, finds the content item
101, which he likes, he may decide that he would like to share this
content item 101 with another user. To this end, the first user
device 110 comprises a content item selector 116, which can be
realized, for instance, as a button on the remote control 115, or
as a `soft key` on a display screen of the first user device 110.
The user uses this selector 116 to indicate his desire to share the
content item which is currently being reproduced.
[0012] When the user uses the selector 116, a
representation-generating module 111 in the device is activated,
which generates a representation of the content item including a
content identifier. In an embodiment of the invention, the
representation is constituted by a short sequence of the music
track. In the case of a movie, the representation may be a still or
a sequence of still images taken from the movie. The user may even
compose a representation himself. In its simplest form, it is a
straightforward text message.
[0013] The representation-generating module 111 also adds a content
identifier to the representation. The content identifier can
identify the contents in various ways. The identifier may be
already present in metadata accompanying the content item 101, or
already embedded as a watermark in the content item 101. It may
also be derived from, for instance, the date, time and channel that
the user was listening to when he used the selector 116. This
information is usually sufficient for determining which content
item was being played. The user may even enter the content
identifier himself.
[0014] Further in response to the activation of selector 116, the
representation-generation module 111 adds a user identifier to the
representation, for example, the user's name and e-mail address.
Again, this identifier may be added as metadata or embedded as a
watermark.
[0015] The representation-generating module 111 then passes the
representation including the content identifier and user identifier
to a transmitting module 112 which transmits it to the second user
130. The user may optionally add a personal message for the other
user to this transmission. The recipient can be addressed directly
through e-mail or a portable medium such as a diskette.
[0016] The second user device 130 comprises a receiving module 131,
a rendering module 132, and a payment module 133. The receiving
module 131 receives the representation 102 and extracts the content
identifier and user identifier. The rendering module 132 presents
the representation 102, and displays the name of sender of the
representation on a screen. The rendering module 132 may also
display a "buy" button on the screen. The recipient can now decide
whether he or she wants to buy the full content item 101.
[0017] When the second user orders the content item, the device 130
establishes a connection with the facilitating device 120. The
facilitating device 120 comprises a receiving module 121 which
receives the content identifier and the user identifier. The
facilitating device 120 is also provided with an electronic payment
module 122 for receiving an electronic payment from the second user
device 120 and submitting an electronic payment to the first user
device 110. In order to receive the latter payment, the first user
device comprises a payment module 113.
[0018] The facilitating device 120 can be realized as a computer
program product adapted to cause a processor to execute the method
according to the invention. When executing the computer program
product, this computer program product enables a programmable
device to function as the facilitating device 120.
[0019] In the above-described embodiment, the representation of
content item 101 is generated by the first user device. It is also
possible to let the facilitating device 120 generate the
representation. In such an embodiment of the invention, the first
user establishes a connection with the facilitating device 120, and
transmits the content identifier and the user identifier, as well
as a further user identifier identifying the second user 130. In
response thereto, the facilitating device generates the
representation and sends said representation including the content
identifier and user identifier to the second user device.
[0020] An arrangement (100) and a method are disclosed for sharing
a content item (101), such as a music title, with a second user. A
first user (110) selects a piece of music from the title and sends
said piece of music to a friend (130). The user device (110) adds a
content identifier and a user identifier identifying the sender to
the transmitted piece of music. The recipient reproduces the piece
of music (102). If he or she subsequently decides to buy the
complete title, the sender will obtain an award from the content
owner (130) for promoting the title. This electronic version of
"mouth-to-mouth" marketing encourages people to spread music clips
and may persuade friends to purchase content items.
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